Obama aims to be first black US president
US Democratic senator Barack Obama, whose father was a Kenyan, said today that he is taking the initial step toward a presidential campaign that could make him the first black American to occupy the White House.
Obama announced his intentions to file a presidential exploratory committee on his Web site, www.barackobama.com. He said he would announce more about his plans February 10 in his hometown, Chicago, Illinois.
“I didn’t expect to find myself in this position a year ago,” Obama said in a video posting. “I’ve been struck by how hungry we all are for a different kind of politics. So I spent some time thinking about how I could best advance the cause of change and progress we so desperately need.
“The decisions that have been made in the past six years have put our country in a precarious place,” he said.
Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961, son of a Kenyan who herded goats as a child with his father, a domestic servant to Kenya’s British rulers. Barack Obama senior left Kenya on an academic scholarship and met and married Ann Dunham, born in the Midwestern state of Kansas, while they were students at the University of Hawaii.
Another potential 2008 presidential candidate, Republican congressman Tom Tancredo, an outspoken opponent of illegal immigration, said he also is forming an exploratory committee for a possible campaign.
After making a weekend trip to Iowa, home to the first nominating caucuses in January 2008, Tancredo said voters told him other presidential candidates do not share their views.
“They believe that there is a void in this race that none of the other candidates are willing or able to fill,” Tancredo said.
